


And Other Yiddish Insults

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Comment Fic 2017 [36]
Category: Saving Hope
Genre: AU - Joel lives, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 20:00:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10543532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Any, any Jewish character (including headcanon or fanon), speaking Yiddish" and What If AU Challenge #1 The Gang's All Here.Joel Goran didn't die.Sydney Katz has words for Charlie and Joel on their fatherhood.





	

Sydney said something in Yiddish that neither Charlie nor Joel understood. Charlie eyed her.  
  
“That was an insult, wasn’t?”  
  
Sydney’s eyes were innocently wide behind her glasses. “Of course not, it was congratulations!”  
  
Joel eyed her as well. “I’m not Jewish, and I’m not exactly an authority on Yiddish or Hebrew, but I could have sworn that the term for approbation was _mazel tov_.”  
  
“Approbation. Good word,” Charlie said.  
  
“I did go to college,” Joel drawled.  
  
Sydney smiled sweetly and pushed her glasses up her nose. Before Charlie or Joel could inquire further, Alex swept into the room, baby Luke cradled in her arms. Shahir was walking close beside Alex, beaming like he was the proud father.  
  
Maggie, Dana, Rian, Zach, Melanda, and Tom spilled in after her. Dawn was noticeably absent, but Charlie didn’t blame her. Their marriage had fallen apart after their child didn’t survive to full term, and Dawn had desperately wanted a child, and Charlie, rebounding from Alex, had been willing to try, but it hadn’t happened.  
  
Charlie wondered where in the world he’d be, if that baby girl had survived.  
  
“This is it,” Shahir said. He was brandishing a piece of paper. “The moment of truth.”  
  
Charlie knew Jackson and the other nurses and a good chunk of the surgical staff were gathered outside the door, waiting to hear the results of the paternity test and - more importantly - who’d won the paternity pool.  
  
Alex stood before Charlie and Joel, the baby in her arms. Given that Charlie and Joel both had brown hair and the baby was so young, it was hard to tell which of them he looked like, and even so, Charlie suspected both men were inclined to think that the child looked like them.  
  
Charlie rarely felt like he was allied with Joel unless they were in the OR, working together to save a patient’s life and limbs, but right that moment he had the sense that everyone else was arrayed against him and Joel, because they’d been the ones breaking Alex’s heart over and over again. (In Charlie’s defense, he didn’t end up in a coma voluntarily, and he fought damn hard to wake up.)  
  
Alex bounced Luke gently, smiled down at him, but her smile dissolved when she looked up at Joel and Charlie.  
  
Shahir cleared his throat ostentatiously, unfolded the piece of paper. “And now, we have the answer, brought to us through the wonder of modern science and medicine. Drumroll, please!”  
  
Zach and Maggie drummed on their thighs.  
  
“And the father is...Joel Goran,” Shahir said.  
  
Charlie released the breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding.  
  
Joel looked - shocked. Poleaxed. Charlie had expected him to look smug or triumphant or at least pleased.  
  
Alex looked - dismayed. Disappointed. Relieved. Something else? But she placed the baby in Joel’s arms, smiled at him encouragingly.  
  
A mingled chorus of groans and cheers rose up from outside the lounge as winners and losers began settling up their debts.  
  
Charlie stepped back, let the crowd surge around Joel, people slapping him on the back and offering their congratulations. Joel sank down on the sofa, gazing down at his child in something akin to awe.  
  
Charlie sucked in a deep breath, swiped a hand over his face. Chances of him holding it together were pretty damn slim to none. He had to get out of there. He headed for the door. He was almost there when Alex caught up to him.  
  
“Hey,” she said, “this doesn’t change anything between us. I still want you.”  
  
Charlie blinked at her. “But - Joel -”  
  
“Is Luke’s father. Not my lover. Not anymore. Never again.” Alex tugged on Charlie’s elbow, towed him over to the sofa. She sat down and tugged him down beside her, snuggled in next to him.  
  
Charlie looked past her, to where Joel was smiling at his son and bouncing him, looking awed and relieved and finally - finally - pleased. Alex drew Charlie’s arm around her and smiled up at him, and for one horrible second, Charlie wished he could change places with Joel. But when Alex leaned up to kiss him, he leaned down to meet her, and he didn’t flinch when Shahir said,  
  
“Three cheers for the happy family! Hip-hip!”  
  
Everyone else cheered, “Hooray!”

Charlie drew back from the kiss and saw Joel looking at Alex with undisguised longing. Maybe Charlie wasn’t the only one, for one horrible second, who wished he could trade places.  
  


*

  
  
Charlie wasn’t sure how it had come to this, Joel living on their sofa so he could take his turn with Luke in the middle of the night. Alex was a heavier sleeper than either Charlie or Joel had realized, and their rotation got out of order fast, so when Luke started crying, Charlie stumbled out of bed and to the fridge to warm up a bottle of pumped breastmilk, and he nearly crashed into Joel, who had Luke tucked in the crook of one arm and was fumbling for the refrigerator door.  
  
“I got this,” Charlie said. “You hold your son.”  
  
Joel nodded dazedly and tucked his other arm under Luke, bouncing him and making soothing noises. Charlie found the bottle, warmed it up, testing its contents on the inside of his wrist like he’d seen a thousand times on television before handing it over to Joel. Joel murmured something in thanks and offered the bottle to Luke, who latched on eagerly, his hungry cries subsiding.  
  
Charlie was too awake to go back to sleep, so he slouched against the center island in the kitchen, arms crossed over his chest, and watched Joel with Luke.  
  
“I’m going to be a better father than my father was,” Joel said softly, though whether it was directed at Luke or Charlie, Charlie wasn’t sure. “Dad says Gorans make terrible fathers, but I know better than that.”  
  
Well, this was turning into a lot more honesty than Charlie usually liked, especially from someone like Joel, who he didn’t like. He started to edge toward the kitchen door, and Joel said,  
  
“Are you scared?”  
  
Charlie paused. “Me?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Scared of what?”  
  
“Being a father.”  
  
“He’s your son, not mine.”  
  
Joel lifted his head, caught Charlie’s gaze and held it. “But Alex loves you, and you’re going to be part of my son’s life whether I like it or not.”  
  
“I hope I do a good enough job that you like it,” Charlie offered.  
  
Joel said, “What was your father like?”  
  
“From what I remember, he was a good man. Loving. Kind. Set appropriate boundaries and discipline.”  
  
“From what you remember?”  
  
Charlie sucked in a deep breath. “I watched my parents die in a car crash when I was six. Spent some time in the system before my aunt and uncle took me in.”  
  
“I’m sorry,” Joel said.  
  
“It is what it is.” Charlie winced at the triteness.  
  
“What about your uncle? Was he all right?”  
  
“I didn’t talk for a long time after the accident, and he thought I was stupid.”  
  
“Well, you showed him.” Joel gazed down at Luke for a moment longer, then held him out. “Want a go?”  
  
Charlie hesitated. “He’s your son. You deserve all the time in the world with him.”  
  
“I want you to know him, and him to know you,” Joel said. “If - if my father was right, you’ll be his father, and -”

“Your father was wrong, just like my uncle,” Charlie said calmly, though he wasn’t sure he believed it himself. The senior Dr. Goran was, by all accounts, a philanderer, and Alex had told Charlie about how Joel’s infidelity had hurt her. Twice. “But I appreciate you sharing him. Between you and Alex, he’ll be a wonderful person.” Charlie stepped closer to Joel, and there was that awkward moment where Joel maneuvered Luke into Charlie’s arms, bottle and all, and then Charlie settled that warm bundle of life against his chest, and everything was okay.  
  
“What kinds of things did you do with your dad? For fun,” Joel asked.  
  
Charlie appraised him for a moment, then told him.  
  


*

  
  
“ _Mazel tov_ ,” Sydney said.  
  
Charlie looked up. Luke squirmed on his changing mat, kicking his legs. “Thank you. Uh, what for?”  
  
Sydney nodded at Joel, who was asleep on the sofa. Alex was officially off maternity leave, and she was back in the OR, leaving Joel and Charlie to help pick up the slack.  
  
“For really becoming a family,” Sydney said.  
  
Joel had sat down to change Luke’s diaper and fallen asleep, clean diaper in hand.  
  
Charlie twitched aside the dirty diaper, cleaned Luke, and managed to wrangle a clean diaper onto him. It looked almost as good as when Joel and Alex did it.  
  
Luke promptly farted.  
  
Charlie sighed and hoisted him up, peeked down the back of the diaper to see if Luke had made a fresh deposit, but it was just gas.  
  
“I still don’t really like the guy,” Charlie muttered. In spite of Luke’s wriggling and giggling, Charlie dressed him in a onesie (from Shahir, that read _It’s not exactly brain surgery_ , which wasn’t quite baby appropriate, but whatever, Shahir meant well) and then offered him a bottle, settled into one of the easy chairs and fed Luke.  
  
“You don’t have to like family to love them,” Sydney said. She smiled, tucked her hands into the pockets of her white coat, and walked away.  
  
“ _Mazel tov_ to you too,” Charlie called after her. He’d have to learn some Yiddish insults just for her.


End file.
